It happened again, and I’m sad. A 20-year-old woman attended a rave party on Oahu, ingested a “Cocktail” that contained Ecstasy, pot, and something else. Who knows what else she might have consumed, but it was lethal. She was admitted
It happened again, and I’m sad. A 20-year-old woman attended a rave party on Oahu, ingested a “Cocktail” that contained Ecstasy, pot, and something else. Who knows what else she might have consumed, but it was lethal. She was admitted to the hospital with a temperature of 109 degrees. She never recovered. Goodbye sweet one. I know your two younger siblings and family will miss you, and your mother is trying to reach others by telling kids, and families with kids to please not fool around with drugs. I’m supporting that family and honoring her life by carrying that message to you.
I spoke with a chemical dependency counselor and asked him if there was a website I could take to find out about bad drug combos, and he said that there is such a hodgepodge of illegal and legal drugs and combos that it would be impossible to get them all down. So I’ll approach this from a higher level, from that of the mind.
If you’re considering taking drugs, just ask yourself the question: “What do I want from taking these drugs?” Now, of course, if you are diabetic you want sugar metabolized, and that is a good reason to take your medicine. Or if you need it to keep your heart beating regularly, do it. But if it is to forget your troubles, feel empowered to be the real you that you are, or feel happy, I just want to let you know that all that has to be in your mind in the first place for drugs to trigger it in you. It’s already there! It might be that you’ve hidden it under “I’m not good enough to … or If only I was more like … or I wish I wasn’t so shy. Guess what. Every one of those pitiful put-downs can change with your choice to change it. Why do you want to be like anyone else anyway? Find out what your own wonderful gifts are!
I read a section in “A Course in Miracles” that talked about the prayer of the heart. That’s your true prayer. The prayer of the heart doesn’t use words or ask for specifics. It wants experiences. It wants experiences of joy, peace, connection, freedom, trusting, etc. The body brain somehow translates it into asking for things that it thinks will help you have those experiences. If I want peace, then I have to have money to pay the bills, or live in a safe neighborhood. If I want joy, I may have to be at “parties” where joyous expression occurs. If I want connection, I have to have a special person to connect to.
Have you ever been alone, and able to feel all of the above-mentioned experiences? Many people in the world, on this island, and I have. Sometimes I’m just in my bed. I decide to still my mind of all the loud and busy thoughts streaming through my brain. I ask for connection. What is the connection to? Life, God, Source, Spirit, Creator, Love. It takes awhile to still the mind, and I’ve studied various methods for 42 years, but it comes. Joy, peace, connection … for me personally I feel the love of God, and I love back. Source expresses to each individual the way they will best relate to It.
It’s no accident that Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous have God as the alternative high-er power! Unless you’ve experienced the pure high of a meditative experience, you can’t believe that it can happen to you, but it can. If the Dalai Lama chose to get high with chemicals, it would be a come down from his already high state.
Chemicals affect the body, and the body brain. Alcohol is a depressant. That’s why people fall asleep or pass out, or get hung over after the “high” is gone. In time alcohol use leads to depression in the mind, so there comes a need to find a new substance for the artificial high that is a very poor substitute for your natural high. Those combos can be lethal. Even alone Ecstasy can cause kidney damage, and cocaine can cause heart attacks. Mixing downers and alcohol can be fatal. Mixing uppers and downers can be fatal. One is speeding up your body, the other is slowing it down. What is it supposed to do? THINK!
In meditation blood vessels don’t have to dialate. Stimulants and triggers supplied to the whole body for a reaction aren’t necessary. The “high” that we are born seeking occurs in our higher mind. It’s the Spirit that was different from flesh, as Jesus called it, the soul, the atman, the higher self, the mind that survives in near death experiences even when the brain flatlines. It is everyone’s window to all Life. Everyone has this wiring as a gift from our Creator. It’s what creates the inner prompting that says, “There must be something more to life than this!” and urges us to find it.
Most of us don’t get training in how to be still, or reach the “peace that surpasses understanding”. We’re taught more to endure here, and the rewards will be in the afterlife. We don’t have to wait to die to experience it. Be your own scientist, or priest(ess). Listen to your heart’s prayer, and consider what you can do in your 3D life that will help you experience what you want. Many find peace in nature. Others light a candle and pray. Some listen to musical tones that soothe. You do have to believe in a spiritual source, and that it loves and will respond to you. Then you have to wait and listen. You can ask Jesus or a holy teacher from your faith to guide your experience. Finding a friend to explore meditation with will speed up your discovery.
Speaking of which: Take care of your friends or even others who appear to be intoxicated. Care enough to ask them to come outside with you for fresh air and perhaps water, unless there are digestive problems. Then assess them in more detail. While looking up overdosing I saw some horrible overdose images, and also the images of famous people who had died by overdose. If you need some horror pictures to motivate you to be careful, check them out. I found symptoms of overdosing on webmd. Be aware of them and call 911 for people who have these conditions:
“Problems with vital signs (temperature, pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure) are possible and can be life threatening. Vital sign values can be increased, decreased, or absent.
Sleepiness, confusion, and coma are common and can be dangerous if the person breathes vomit into the lungs (aspirated). (Put the person on his/her side.)
Skin can be cool and sweaty, or hot and dry.
Chest pain is possible and can be caused by heart or lung damage. Shortness of breath may occur. Breathing may get rapid, slow, deep, or shallow. Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are possible. Vomiting blood, or blood in bowel movements, can be life-threatening.
Specific drugs can damage specific organs, depending on the drug.”
You all matter. Ask your heart what it really wants, and take just one step at a time to get to it. Then another step. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t important. You might just be the one who walks by the beach and makes a save, or pushes a child or tutu out of the way of a car.
Now consider others. Can you imagine the grief and sadness your death would cause your loved ones? I’m sure that drug overdosing isn’t what you want to be remembered for. How do you really know what you are taking? Is it worth risking brain or organ damage even if you survive? We need our parts to be working well to maximize our lives. Who knows what’s coming down the road for you? Oh yes, you’re going to experience the feelings of peace, joy, love, connection, freedom …
Hale `Opio Kauai convened a support group of adults in our Kaua’i community to “step into the corner” for our teens, to answer questions and give support to youth and their families on a wide variety of issues. Please email your questions or concerns facing our youth and families today to Annaleah Atkinson at aatkinson@haleopio.org
